The Milky Ways big sister

Esahubble_potw1830a_1024

esahubble_potw1830a July 23rd, 2018

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt

This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescopes Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance, it resembles our Milky Way albeit larger, measuring more than 200 000 light-years across compared to 100 000 light-year diameter for our home galaxy. NGC 6744 is similar to our home galaxy in more ways than one. Like the Milky Way, NGC 6744 has a prominent central region packed with old yellow stars. Moving away from the galactic core, one can see parts of the dusty spiral arms painted in shades of pink and blue; while the blue sites are full of young star clusters, the pink ones are regions of active star formation, indicating that the galaxy is still very lively. In 2005, a supernova, named 2005at, was discovered within NGC 6744, adding to the argument of this galaxys liveliness (not visible in this image). SN 2005at is a type Ic supernova, formed when a massive star collapses in itself and loses its hydrogen envelope.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1830a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
NGC 6744
Subject - Local Universe
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Esahubble_potw1830a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 19h 9m 43.6s
DEC = -63° 51’ 9.6”
Orientation
North is 120.1° CCW
Field of View
2.7 x 2.7 arcminutes
Constellation
Pavo

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC2) Optical (H-alpha + NIII) 657.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (I) 817.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (y) 547.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (U) 336.0 nm
Purple Hubble (WFC3) Ultraviolet (UV) 275.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Red
Green
Green
Blue
Blue
Purple
Esahubble_potw1830a_1280
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ID
potw1830a
Subject Category
C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
NGC 6744
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA Acknowledgement: Judy Schmidt
Release Date
2018-07-23T06:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1830a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC2, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Red, Green, Green, Blue, Blue, Purple
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical, Ultraviolet
Bandpass
H-alpha + NIII, I, V, y, B, U, UV
Central Wavelength
657, 817, 555, 547, 438, 336, 275
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
287.431588453, -63.8526589136
Reference Dimension
4076.0, 4095.0
Reference Pixel
2038.0, 2047.0
Scale
-1.10012373627e-05, 1.10012373627e-05
Rotation
120.11999999999992
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1830a
Metadata Date
2018-06-08T20:33:26+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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